Only the stump of Dagon was left to him— In the Hebrew it is, only Dagon remained to him; where Dagon, says Houbigant, is taken for the principal part of his statue, or the trunk of his body. Kimchi says, nothing but the form of a fish remained to him. Thus the Lord shewed that there was no God besides him. His ark, though taken captive and carried into a strange land, threw down their idol twice; thereby demonstrating that the Israelites were not overthrown for want of any power in their God to defend them, but for the iniquity of those who worshipped him. See Bishop Patrick, and St. Chrysostom's Orat. 5: adversus Jud.
REFLECTIONS.—Though Israel seem utterly to have neglected the ark of God, and neither by force nor treaty seek to recover it, yet God will not suffer the ungodly to triumph for ever. We have here,
1. The Philistines triumphing over their prisoner. With solemnity they carry it down to their principal city Ashdod, and place it in the temple of their great idol Dagon, as a trophy of the glorious victory obtained under his auspices. Note; (1.) The cause of God is often sunk so low, that it seems past recovery, and given up into the enemy's hand. (2.) God does then more gloriously display his power, and make it appear how vain a thing they imagine, who shout, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground.
2. Little honour does Dagon get from the vicinity of his captive. When his devotees arose to worship him, or his priests to rehearse the praises of his victory, behold the miserable idol on his face in the dust, prostrate before the ark, as if confessing his own vanity, and directing them to that God who is the only true object of worship. Thus shall all the powers of darkness, error, and corruption, fall before the bright beams of truth, and the mighty work of God's spirit on the hearts of men. Let the oppressed church be comforted, and the soul that is fainting under the power of corruption hang still upon God: their distress shall but magnify his glory and grace in their deliverance.
3. In vain his worshippers seek to repair his disgrace, by fastening him again in his place: the next morning presents him still more despicable; his stump, the fishy tail, joined to the human body, only remained; his head and hands cut off lay on the threshold, presenting him a headless monster, emblem of their folly who worshipped him; and handless, to intimate the impotence of his arm to save himself or them. Note; (1.) The papist who worships the images of saints that never lived, is more culpable and abominable, in the eyes of God, than the Philistines who worshipped monsters that never existed. (2.) All the devices of wicked men and devils against the church of God shall, in the issue, prove as impotent as this attempt to fasten Dagon in his place again.
4. The folly of worshipping such a wretched god, who could not help himself, one should think, must now have appeared: yet, strange to tell! they reverence the very place of his disgrace, and honour that threshold where his mutilated limbs were laid. Note; Where superstition reigns, nothing is so absurd or impious but it may be consecrated into an act of religion, as we see in the church of Rome, even to the paying of respect unto dead men's bones, and the very broken pieces of their wretched images.